While touting its deployment of fiber (see "Openreach chooses Huawei and Nokia for Fibre First national FTTP roll out"), Openreach says it will continue to expand its Gfast footprint. The newly independent subsidiary of BT responsible for access network deployment and access says it will invest multiple millions of pounds to deploy Gfast in an additional 81 locations. Openreach says it has already deployed the copper-based high-speed broadband technology in 250 locations.
London, Leicester, Manchester, Worthing, Stoke, and Blackpool are among the cities that will see Gfast deployments. The full list of new Gfast targets includes Acomb, Addiscombe, Aintree, Ascot, Bargoed (Cardiff), Barking, Barnsley, Beckenham, Beulah Hill (Croydon), Blackpool, Bootle, Bradford, Broadwell, Canonbury, Chingford, Colchester, Colindale, Dalton in Furness, Daubhill, Deal, Dover, Downloand (Croydon), Earley, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Enfield, Faversham, Felixstowe, Feltham, Forest Hill, Godalming, Greenwich, Hamilton, Harlesden, Hatch End, Healing, Hendon, Hitchin, Hyde, Kemptown, Kentish Town, Kenton, Leicester Central, Leytonstone, Lincoln, Littlehampton, Llanrumney, Lords, Lower Holloway, Malden, Midland (Birmingham), Mill Hill, Moss Side, North Wembley, Northampton, Oldham, Pendleton, Plympton, Ponders End, Prescot, Primrose hill, Purfleet, Rainham, Rock Ferry, Rushey Green, Staylbridge, Stamford, Stoke City, Sydenham (Croydon), Teddington, Tewkesbury, Tranent (South East Scotland), Upper Holloway, Urmston (South Manchester), Wallington, Waterloo, Wembley, West Kensington, West Wickham, Willesden, Worthing Central.
Openreach says it will be able to deliver broadband speeds of up to 330 Mbps using Gfast. That figure is 7X the current UK average, the company asserts.
The infrastructure operator is among a handful of companies using Gfast in the outside plant rather than just within buildings (see "Openreach taps Huawei, Nokia for G.fast roll-out"). (Swisscom is another; see “Swisscom reports G.fast field test.”) Openreach says it expects to reach 5.7 million properties with Gfast connections. Meanwhile, it says it hopes to reach 3 million homes and businesses with fiber to the premises (FTTP) by the end of 2020. The company adds that it would like to extend its FTTP deployment to 10 million premises by the mid-2020s “if the conditions are right to invest.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher
Stephen Hardy has covered fiber optics for more than 15 years, and communications and technology for more than 30 years. He is responsible for establishing and executing Lightwave's editorial strategy across its digital magazine, website, newsletters, research and other information products. He has won multiple awards for his writing.
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